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The city of Kobani in northern Syria suffered under an Islamic State siege from 2014 until the U.S.-led Coalition decided to back the Syrian Kurds, eventually defeating ISIS after a battle that lasted more than six months. Every family in Kobani has lost someone to ISIS and even now hundreds of civilians remains in the terror group’s hands. They were kidnapped on the roads in Aleppo or Raqqa before 2014 and nobody knows if they are dead or alive.

SpaceX has filed documents seeking to trademark the name “Starlink” for a satellite network that could provide global broadband access to data and video services as well as Earth imagery and remote sensing. The California company’s satellite unit operates primarily out of facilities in Redmond, Wash., and is working stealthily to develop a constellation of thousands of satellites that would be launched into low Earth orbit.

Brazil has re-legalised so-called “gay cure therapy” as a judge deemed homosexuality to be a “disease”. Judge Waldemar Claudio de Carvalho overruled a 1999 resolution by the Federal Council of Psychology which prohibited the treatment of homosexuality by psychologists.

Transport Canada has fined the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Sir William Alexander $6,000 for going too fast in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The ship allegedly violated the federal government's 10-knot speed limit that was put in place in August to prevent further deaths of the endangered North Atlantic right whales.​ As of Sept. 16, there have been 11 right whales confirmed dead in the Gulf.

Identical twin sisters gave birth just hours apart in the same hospital – while their partners, who are both called William, were at their side. Rachel McGeoch and Beccy Pistone, 34, had their deliveries in adjacent wards at Mount Auburn Hospital, in Massachusetts in the US. Ms Pistone had earlier travelled to the clinic with her husband William ‘Todd’ Pistone to comfort her sister Ms McGeoch as she went into labour – and then went into labour herself.

Last month we let you know that we’ve been working towards a solution to provide our customers with their share of the value created by Bitcoin Cash after the fork of the Bitcoin network in early August. After careful consideration, we have decided to convert the BCC created during the fork to BTC, and credit the corresponding amount of BTC to customers who held BTC in their Coins.ph wallet at the time of block 478,558 (August 1st 9:16 pm Philippines time, the time the fork occurred).

Every student in New York City public schools will be eligible to receive free lunch starting Thursday, the schools chancellor said. Free midday meals will be available to all schools and students that participate in SchoolFood, including charter and non-public schools, the city's education department said Wednesday.

The share of Americans who identify as white and Christian has dropped below 50 percent, a transformation fueled by immigration and by growing numbers of people who reject organized religion altogether, according to a new survey released Wednesday. Christians overall remain a large majority in the U.S., at nearly 70 percent of Americans. However, white Christians, once predominant in the country’s religious life, now comprise only 43 percent of the population...

Chocolate giant Mars is promising to spend close to $1 billion over the next few years fighting climate change. The $35 billion food giant behind brands like M&Ms, Skittles, and Twix on Wednesday launched its "Sustainability in a Generation" plan, aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of its business and supply chain by more than 60% by 2050.

The seventh season of Game of Thrones has brought tears and joy to HBO this summer. It was the most-viewed season thus far, with record-breaking TV ratings. But on the other hand, HBO and Game of Thrones were plagued by hacks, leaks, and piracy, of course. While it’s hard to measure piracy accurately, streaming in particular, piracy tracking outfit MUSO has just released some staggering numbers. According to the company, the latest season was pirated more than a billion times in total.

Thieves stole wine reportedly worth more than €250,000 (£230,000) after burrowing into a private cellar from the catacombs 20 metres below Paris. Police say more than 300 bottles of vintage wine were carried out through the underground network, which comprises more than 150 miles (250km) of tunnels running beneath the city.

The United States on Thursday flew some of its most advanced warplanes over South Korea in a show of force against North Korea, after Pyongyang fired a midrange ballistic missile over Japan earlier this week, South Korea's military said. Two U.S. B-1B bombers and four F-35 fighters participated in training with South Korean F-15 fighter jets, an official from Seoul's Defense Ministry said.

The Texas cities of Beaumont and Port Arthur were watery wastelands Wednesday after they felt the wrath of Harvey. The storm that inundated Houston swamped the cities with a record 30 inches of rainfall, unleashed flash flooding that police said claimed two lives in Beaumont and forced hundreds of residents to flee to local shelters.

With unemployment in the U.S. at its lowest level in 16 years, experts are prone to talk about the economy as if it has fully recovered from the housing crash. But other measures of how Americans are doing reveal a darker picture. Almost 8 out of 10 American workers say they live paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder. That can force people to take on debt or otherwise struggle when an unexpected bill arises.

"Discrimination against an individual on the basis of sexual orientation is deeply offensive to the dignity and self-worth of the individual. Equality demands that the sexual orientation of each individual in society must be protected." - The Supreme Court.

After a six-year stay in the country, 103-year-old Hong Inh fulfilled her lifelong goal of becoming a U.S. citizen on Tuesday. Four generations of Inh's family gathered to celebrate her citizenship as Inh held an American flag in her hand and a bright smile on her face. "It's amazing," Inh's great-granddaughter Melissa Tea said. "I'm so excited. She's so excited. My family's excited."

The alt-right leader and president of the National Policy Institute who took part in the recent demonstrations in Charlottesville will not be speaking at a Penn State University event, President Eric Barron said Tuesday. "After critical assessment by campus police, in consultation with state and federal law enforcement officials, we have determined that Mr. Spencer is not welcome on our campus...

Senior military staff tolerated initiation rites - including physical and sexual abuse - among junior recruits, a royal commission inquiry has said. Those who reported abuse were told it was a "rite of passage."

On the day that Aurora theater shooter James Holmes was convicted on two dozen counts of first-degree murder, a 24-year-old man opened fire at few states to the east in Chattanooga, Tennessee, leaving five military personnel dead. That same day Dylann Roof was given a trial date. The coincidence of tragedy seemed to send a message: we’re producing twenty-something, male mass killers faster than we can prosecute them.

Before a single raindrop fell, Alan Leidner knew the waters could rise and throw the city into darkness. On this point, the maps were as clear as a crystal ball. All you had to do was look. It was 2010, and Leidner was consulting for the government services company Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., contracted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities in the nation’s critical infrastructure. Leidner was examining a region that included New York and Ne...